Extinction Rates Rise and Other Fascinating News on the Web

Mass Extinction (and other news)

About 250 million years ago, Earth suffered its fifth (and worst) mass extinction event. Nearly seventy percent of land species disappeared. And they got off easy compared to marine species. Are we headed for another mass extinction on Earth? I’m not ready to break that news. But something unusual is definitely going on and extinction rates seem to be speeding up. Here’s an interesting chat with Elizabeth Kolbert, author of The Sixth Extinction.

Frozen

No one is using the word extinction to describe the current ice storm sweeping the South. But the National Weather Service is using words like: “Catastrophic … crippling … paralyzing … choose your adjective.”

+ Hundreds of thousands of people have already lost power and thousands of flights have been cancelled. And in Atlanta, where a much lighter storm crippled the city two weeks ago, people are staying home. Here’s the latest on the storm from CNN.

+ Could this baker solve the gluten mystery? (Or at least explain what the hell they’re putting in our bread these days…)

Marriage 101

Self understanding is the first step towards having a good relationship. Marriage is not easy. There’s no such thing as a soul mate. Communications skills are important. If you already know these things, then you’ve probably taken Northwestern’s Marriage 101 class (or had these theories yelled at you by a loved one).

Five Ring Circus

In a first in Alpine Skiing, a competition ended in a tie (although the timekeepers know who really won). (Warning: If you’ve spent the last several hours enclosed in a box made of steel and concrete, this could be a spoiler.)

+ Shouts and Murmurs: Going for the Bronze – “I’d never have gotten here without the support of my family, which saw third place in me before I could see it in myself.”

The Seat of Power

“In 1969, Cheney was a twenty-eight-year-old fledgling academic wannabe from Wyoming laboring obscurely as an intern on Capitol Hill — and lucky to be there, having twice flunked out of Yale, twice been jailed for drunk driving. Five years later he was Gerald Ford’s White House chief of staff. Can American history offer a more rapid rise to power?” And has any American had a greater influence on the way we live now? From the NY Review of Books: In the Darkness of Dick Cheney.

The Applebee Falls Far from the Tree

“I couldn’t eat no more, so I went to Applebee’s to have drinks. I don’t want my grandkids raised in that kind of environment. I’m old school. I’m a man-and-a-woman type of guy.” Before Michael Sam came out to the NFL and the public at large, that was the response he got from his own dad.

+ So far, NFL players haven’t made any negative public comments about Sam. But a couple of players from the Canadian Football League couldn’t resist. Of course, one of them misspelled the word gay.

Coke and Pepsi

“Another defendant, alleged Bonanno crime family associate Charles Centaro — who is known as “Charlie Pepsi — actually wore a blue nylon jacket bearing the Pepsi logo and as well as the name ‘Charlie.'” Michael Daly shares more details from the Mafia’s cocaine-in-a-can bust.